Optimizing Images for Web Performance
February 17, 2025
Images make websites look great, but they’re also the biggest performance bottleneck. They add huge file sizes, delay Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), and can even mess with Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) if they aren’t handled properly. And while developers are quick to optimize JavaScript and CSS, images are often ignored—despite being the heaviest assets on most pages.
So, how do we make images fast, responsive, and efficient? Here’s how:
Source: Optimizing Images for Web Performance – Frontend Masters Boost
Image optimisation may seem like entry level stuff for web performance–30 years ago we were doing it!
But the state of the art constantly improves, and this is great roundup of some techniques you may or may not be using.
SVG doesn’t get a mention in the images section–I’ve been on. mission to minimise the use of pixels on the Web for years now, and if in doubt, avoid pixels (in your image formats) by using SVG is one thing I’d add to this.
